November 9 marks the anniversary of the death of the Sufi poet Jami…
We honor the occasion with five of our favorite poems by Jami …
Our Need of the Beloved
Jami
Found in the book
The Persian Mystics: Jami
(Available as FREE Ebook on the page linked above)
O Thou whose sacred precincts none may see,
Unseen Thou makest all things seen to be;
Thou and we are not separate, yet still
Thou hast no need of us, but we of Thee.
None by endeavour can behold Thy face,
Or access gain without prevenient grace;
For every man some substitute is found,
Thou hast no peer, and none can take Thy place.
Of accident or substance Thou hast nought,
Without constraint of cause Thy grace is wrought;
Thou canst replace what’s lost, but if Thou’rt lost,
In vain a substitute for Thee is sought.
In me Thy beauty love and longing wrought;
Did I not seek Thee, how wouldst Thou be sought?
My love is as a mirror in the which
Thy beauty into evidence is brought.
O Lord, none but Thyself can fathom Thee,
Yet every mosque and church doth harbour Thee;
I know the seekers and what ’tis they seek–
Seekers and sought are all comprised in Thee.
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Reading for the Common Good
From ERB Editor Christopher Smith
Reading for the Common Good
From ERB Editor Christopher Smith
and the life of the church."
-Karen Swallow Prior
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